Videos About Christopher Columbus ...that are actually accurate!

Several years back I did a post about Christopher Columbus fact checking a lot of the errors floating around.    Now, I'd like to share some short videos you CAN use to teach this history to children, without exposing kids to things they aren't ready for or sugar coating this history.   Further down on this page are some good videos related to Spanish exploration, conquest and colonization.

Recommended Columbus Videos

BrainPop:  Columbus  
(Recommended for All Ages)
This was free when I first accessed it, but sadly it isn't now.  But, because this was literally the best video for kids on Columbus I've found, I couldn't leave it off the list.  It was kid friendly, animated, accurate, and didn't try to demonize Columbus or make him into a hero.  It also dealt to some extent with both the positive and negative ramifications of Columbus' journey, both for the people of Europe and the people of the Americas. (NOTE:  I didn't have a chance to look into the "extras" about Columbus they have...just the video, so can't comment on those). 





Crash Course World History:  15th Century Mariners:  Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He
(Recommended for Upper Elementary through High School)
This video talks briefly about Columbus, along with two other sailors from this time.  This doesn't at all deal much with the results of Columbus' trip across the Atlantic, positive or negative, but later videos in this series do (see below), so combined with those this covers this well.   My middle-schoolers loved the humor in John Green's crash course videos.

CONTENT CONCERNS:  Contains one joke related to a Chinese explorer being a Eunuch that some may find inappropriate (minute 1:40-2:05, easy to skip if you want to). You could also just watch the part about Columbus (6:30-9:27), though I really think the it's worth adding the part about the Portuguese explorer De Gama, which really sets up why the Spanish were looking for a passage to Asia and would fund Columbus' journeys. (That starts at minute 4:24).



Crash Course World History:  The Colombian Exchange
(Recommended for Upper Elementary through High School)
This video shows but shows the impact of Columbus discovery on both sides the the Atlantic, for good and bad, so its a really important follow up to the last video.

CONTENT CONCERNS:   Smaller children might be scared by depictions of war and people dying of smallpox.  It uses OMG, spelled out, once (in an easily skippable side-segment in minutes 1:22-1:33).   There is, in talk about syphilis, some indirect reference to sex (in talking how it was spread by sailors they mention a quote "sailors...are men without women and therefor men of many women.")

Bartolomé de las Casas: Conscious of an Empire
(Recommended for Middle School through High School)
I highly suggest this for high schoolers and middle schoolers who prefer un-animated documentaries.  This video is mainly about Bartolomé de las Casas, a priest who came to the new world shortly after Columbus had been removed of his governorship there, and later spent his life trying to end the enslavement and oppression of the native people in the Spanish colonies.   After briefly introducing De las Casas and Nicolás de Ovando (the 3rd governor of the new world), it backtracks to Columbus's previous journeys, including the establishment of colonies and subjugation of the native peoples, which continues until minute 12:04  (though I suggest watching the whole thing to learn more about what happened after Columbus in the Spanish colonies).    It is accurate overall, apart from one small error  mentioned below which is easy to discuss.  

CONTENT CONCERNS:  Contains one brief instance of cultural nudity.   Around minute 4:15 it briefly shows native people being shown to queen Isabela, including a woman with bare breasts (only slightly blurred).  It also contains more depictions of violence.  

Related to accuracy, it said that Bobadilla was sent back specifically to replace Columbus, but actually he was sent back mainly to investigate a colonist rebellion though he had the power to replace Columbus based on his investigation.   Another important detail that is left out is how Bobadilla also mishandled of the governing of the colonies, and that things actually got worse for the indigenous people under his government.  While Columbus and his brothers had tried to maintain discipline of the colonists through arguably cruel means, Bobadilla went in the other direction and let the colonists basically do what they wanted, including rape and abuse the native peoples without any censure (which I wrote about more in this article, in the section, "After Columbus".)


Biography.Com - Several Videos
(Recommended for Upper Elementary through High School)
There are three videos embedded in this article (and unfortunately when you load the article they all begin playing at once...so you will want to scroll down and turn off the other two before showing to your kids).   All are are in the more typical older documentary style (not animated).     The first video covers the basics of the Columbus journeys and the first Spanish colonies started under Columbus.  My only slight criticism is they could have said something to clarify the differences at the time between subjugation under a feudal system (which we might recognize as a form of slavery today, but which they would not have), and chattel slavery (Columbus subjugated many Taino on his 2nd journey and later enslaved some).   But overall this is accurate. 

The 2nd video listed is more about the ships used on the journey, and the 3rd is a short footnote with a few more details.

The text article is also well done, but contains one error (it says on his 4th journey he was shipwrecked in Cuba when he was actually shipwrecked in Jamaica).

CONTENT CONCERNS:   The videos contain some artistic nudity (middle age drawings of the natives without clothing). 

Recommended Videos on
 Spanish Conquest/Colonization

The following aren't directly about Columbus, but can make a good follow up to show what happened in the new world after the voyages of Columbus.

Crash Course US History:  The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards
(Recommended for Middle School and High School)

This video covers, very briefly, the Native American peoples who lived in what is now the US before European contact, and covers what happened to them during Spanish colonization/exploration (which was after Columbus, but still related). My one minor quibble is that it sort of suggests that Bartolomé de las Casas was the only Spaniard fighting against the oppression of the natives, while in fact, he was convinced that the enslavement of the native peoples were wrong by other priests who were preaching this before him.   But none were as vocal or steadfast in their fight, so I don't think that oversimplification is worth skipping this video, which overall sets up well what happened to the native people during colonization.  

CONTENT CONCERNS:  It has pictures/depictions of massacres and torture which are not suitable for younger kids, and which also contain nudity (medieval artistic nudity).  

Extra Credits History:  Bartolomé de las Casas - Changing Your Mind
(Recommended for All Ages)
This one deals a little bit more with Bartolomé de las Casas, who is mentioned briefly in the last video. I was so excited when this came out because this is probably my favorite historical character and the person who got me studying this time period. He was a Spanish priest who came to the colonies just after Columbus had his governorship stripped. While he originally participated in the oppression of the indigenous people he soon realized what was happening to them was wrong and spent the rest of his life trying to end their oppression.  The video did an excellent job and even managed to be completely kid friendly.

NOTE TO CHRISTIAN READERS:  Though this is a secular resource, they did very well at portraying de las Casas' faith.   They did however offer a brief  critical note about proselytizing (presenting as a negative that las Casas supported it).  Las Casas believed in proselytizing through love and logic, not force or coercion, and preached that this was the only Biblical way to share the gospel. 


Crash Course US History:   The Spanish Empire, Silver, and Runaway Inflation
(Suggested for Middle School and High School ...may work for late elementary also.)
This covers, briefly, the empires that existed before Spanish Conquest and what followed in the next several hundred years, and the results in America, Spain, and even China. 

Extra Credits - The Inca Empire
(Suggested for Mid-elementary through High School)
This series, about an hour long in all, tells what life was like in the Inca Empire and than chronicles it's conquest by the Spanish.  

CONTENT CONCERNS:   There is violence but it is animated and somewhat abstract.   I let my child watch other videos by Extra Credits with similar levels of violence around age 8. 

TedEd - The Rise and Fall of the Inca Empire
(Suggested for All Ages)
This video also has some history of the Inca, and tells of their conquest.  It has less detail than the longer video by Extra Credits.   I feel like this video is more appropriate for younger kids because of the way it's told, in a way that reminds me of how a fable is told and with paper cut-out people that I think make the violence even more abstract than the stick people drawings of Extra Credits.  

Thanks to Pixabay for the images used to make the intro graphic.

 

Torn Paper Mountain Craft

 

Making torn paper mountains is a fun, really easy artwork you can do with kids of almost any age (or even adults!).


Supplies: 

Different color paper
Glue
Scissors (optional, for second part).


You will need different shades of paper.   In mine I used different shades of purple cardstock, plus black for silhouettes in the front and a blue background.   Shades of green or blue look nice too, or you can also do this with multiple colors of paper, or even patterned paper, for a different look.  

First, tear the paper in a zig-zag or wave pattern to make mountains.

Before gluing anything down, you might want to suggest your kids figure out what order they want their mountains in. 

While it seems obvious, as adults, that you have to glue the mountains in the background first, you may need to explain that to your children.   I've done this with two groups of kids now, and I notice little kids often start by gluing the mountain in the foreground, even though that needs to go over the the other mountain.   

Also, if you are going to add trees (see below) decide if you want any between your mountains before gluing.

OPTIONAL - ADD A TREE

The mountains on their own look beautiful, but if you want you can add a silhouette of a tree, or a few trees, like the ones I cut out here.  

Here are several arrangements I tried of my trees...I encourage kids to move around their pieces and find the way they would like them to be placed before gluing.

Story of the World Ancient Times - Chapter 14 - Moses, the Isaelites, and the Exodus from Egypt

Painting in header is "Mother of Moses", by Simeon Solomon, 1860
and is in the public domain

This is part of my Story of the World lesson series, but this post especially can be used by those not using that curriculum.  In stead of reading these stories about Moses in SOTW, we actually read them in our Children's Bible (since we were reading other parts of the story as well to supplement).   And we didn't do a lot of activities, since we had just recently attended a Vacation Bible School camp related to the story of Moses and the Israelites.  But there are SO MANY hands on activities you can do related to the story of Moses, so I decided to share links to some of the best of those with you (both ones directly related to the parts of this story SOTW includes, and ones not included...I've noted which are which in the activity section below.).  


But before I get to those activities, here are some Children's Bible versions I suggest for these stories...

 

 

The Jesus Storybook Bible
This is a beautiful retelling of various Bible stories, told in a way that  shows how each separate event is  really part of ONE story...a Love story about how God rescues his people.  It's gentle and perfect for younger children, yet brings out aspects of the stories that even adults can learn from. 

I suggest buying the version with the audio CD, as David Suchet's reading of this story is really wonderful (my oldest listened to these tapes over and over...he couldn't get enough of them).   You can also purchase just the book by itself or get it with the animated movie version of this on DVDS too (which I haven't seen so can't comment on).

 

(DK) Children's Illustrated Bible

This book has faithful retelling of the Bible stories along with beautiful illustrations, and sidebars with helpful maps, pictures of artifacts and places, and historical and cultural information related to the text.   It's really a perfect book if you want to connect the Bible stories with other aspects of history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Action Bible
This comic book style Bible is great for older elementary age kids and middle school kids.   My own kids really liked this one...it was the first one they read on their own. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITIES


For All Sections

Old Testament Notebooking Activities

Baby Moses Activities

(Included in SOTW Narrative)

• Printable (Ages 4 - 7)
• Baby Moses Craft - This uses a walnut shell, but I think a large acorn cap would work, and you could subsitute a smaller acorn (without cap) for Moses, or make a paper Moses.
• Baby Moses Peg Doll Craft and Activity
  
• Simple Paper Basket (Ages 6-8)
• Yarn Basket
• Baby Moses Wave Bottle
• See also "Notes for Christian Homeschoolers" at the bottom of this page for additional discussions, especially for older children
  

Moses and the Burning Bush Craft

(NOT included in SOTW narrative)

• Burning Bush Luminaries
• More Burning Bush Crafts

The Israelite Make Bricks
(NOT included in SOTW narrative, but it would be easy to add this without additional reading just by explaining that this was one thing the Isrealites had to do when they were slaves).

• How to make mud bricks.

10 Plagues Activity

(Included in SOTW Narrative)

• 10 Plagues Snacks
• 10 Plagues Activities

Crossing the Red Sea
(Included in SOTW Narrative)

Crossing the Red Sea 3D Paper Craft
Cross the Red Sea Interactive Coloring Page

Crossing the Red Sea - Jello and Lego Activities*

*Technically, these are crossing the Jordan activities, but they would totally work for crossing the red sea too. 

See also "Notes for Christian Homeschoolers" at the bottom of this page for additional discussions, especially for older children


EVENTS AFTER THE SOTW NARRATIVE

 
The following things that happened to the Israelites while they were wandering around in the desert aren't part of what was included in Story of the World narrative, but if you want to extend this by reading Bible stories from the Exodus, here are some fun activities to go with this.

10 Commandments Activities

While this was not included in SOTW Narrative, a picture of Moses carrying the 10 commandments is one of the illustration)

10 Commandment Ornament 

10 Commandments Tablets (larger)

10 Commandments Lapbook

Various 10 Commandments Crafts

10 Commandments Spinner

Wandering in the Desert

Exodus (and other Bible Stories) Play Activity with Sand (Ages 4-8)
A way to tell the Exodus story to very young children using a sand box and wood figures (you could print out figures in stead and glue them to popsicle sticks to use in the sand in similar ways).

Learn about the Sinai desert

The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the Sinai.   This would be a great chance to explore a little bit of what this desert is like.   Below are some great resources for that.

• Foods of the Sinai (With Recipes) - This blog post from one of my other blogs, which I wrote largely using info from the three previous sources, has suggestions for snacks that relate to various parts of the Exodus, and at the bottom has a list of edible plants in the Sinai, and recipes, most using only foods that the Israelites would have had. It includes some activities you could do for learning about God's provision  manna and quail to the Israelites.

• Wandering Through the Wadis  - An blog with beautiful pictures of Sinai flora and fauna which is fun to explore. 

• Wildlife of the Sinai - This site has pictures of animals and insects that live in the Sinai.

• Wild Plants of the Sinai - A short list of plants that grow in the Sinai (not all plants, but just some common ones), with pictures.

• Bedouin History Desert Safari - A blog with lots of great stories about what life is like today for Bedouins in the Sinai desert.   This post, with a story about children digging for wild tubers in the desert, I thought would be a good one to read to children. 

The Making of the Tabernacle

• Paper Tabernacle
  

Spies Enter Canaan

• Find the 12 spies
  

MORE NOTES/COMMENTARY FOR CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOLERS

SIMILAR ANCIENT STORIES TO MOSES

There are stories similar to the story Moses' and how he was placed in the Nile by his mother.    One of these stories is the story of Sargon, and some people have claimed that the Moses story was based off of that.    This article does a pretty good job of refuting that claim. 

Another ancient myth that is similar to the Moses story is the story of Isis and Horus.   According to the myth, while hiding from Set, Isis gave birth to Horus in the swamps of the Delta.   She kept the baby hidden in the thickets, and the goddess Selket (or in some versions Neith) watched over Horus when Isis needed to go out for food.   (Source: https://www.ancient.eu/Horus/)

This is similar to how Moses' mother hid Moses in the reeds, and had her sister watch over him. 

While it's just conjecture, this idea popped into my head:   What if Moses' mother knew these stories?   What if what happened to Moses was BOTH a copy and a reality?   What if, having heard these stories from the Egyptians she lived with, she hid her baby in a way that she thought would make any Egyptian who found her child hesitant to harm him?  Horus was an important god in Egypt, associated with the rule of the Pharaohs.  If an Egyptian found a baby in a basket hiding in the reeds, I imagine it could make them pause, possibly treat the child a little more kindly (or have second thoughts over turning it over to be killed if they realized it was a Hebrew child).  


CROSSING THE RED SEA

This blog post discusses the question "Did Pharoah die with his army?" 

Last :: Next

See All Story of the World Posts

Why I Love Visual Guide Workbooks

I'm not big on workbooks generally, but I love the Visual Guide Workbooks.   They feature colorful, fun, infographics packed with great information, and questions and activities to go with them.    I have a child who often struggled to pay attention to long written passages but  almost always remembered the stuff he saw in the pictures and diagrams.  That made these workbooks perfect for him.   

While the lessons aren't in any particular order they do tend to focus on some major themes.    And so I've put together a free printable guide to the topics in these books so that, if you wanted to you could use them to supplement things you are already learning about in your homeschool. I've found that it's ok to skip around in the books a little.   A friend of mine who's a reading teacher says it's good for kids to have access to both reading passages exactly at their levels, and ones a little lower and a little above their level, and I find this good advice.   So I organized my "guide to the guides" in a way that you could find all the pages in all levels of the book on a certain subject.   That could be useful if you were using this with more than one child as well. 

Solar System page from the Visual Guide to 3rd Grade

Look at that gorgeous page on space!  Space is a major theme in several of the Visual Guide books (see the bottom of this page for links to all the books and a listing of their major themes).   My child really responds well to colorful, quality graphics in workbooks and worksheets like these.  But while you can find a loot of great free worksheets online, pages with colorful backgrounds like this are expensive to print, so if you want something like this, it's actually cheaper in the long run to buy workbooks like these.  

Animals of Africa Map page from the Visual Guide to 1st Grade

All infographics are followed by activities and questions.  You can see what these are like on the lesson on Animals of Africa above.   There are more hands on cut and paste activities as well.

Ben Franklin page from the Visual Guide to 3rd Grade

 

Ancient Egypt page from the Visual Guide to 1st Grade

These books include a lot of pages from History too.    Most are are related to US history but in the 1st grade book there's a little world history sprinkled in as well, like the page on ancient Egypt shown above.   Each of these pages is followed up by questions, and often activities, on the following pages.

Human Anatomy page from the Visual Guide to 3rd Grade

Monarch butterfly page from the Visual Guide to 2nd Grade

 

There's so many great science topics included, too.   Animals, human health and anatomy, earth science, conservation, and more.  

Below you can find links to these books, and major themes in them.   I considered it a major theme if there were 3 or more sections related in some way to it.   These are of course just a few of the topics included in these books.

Visual Guide to Kindergarten

US Symbols, Plants and Farming,
Animals Life, Inventions


Visual Guide to 1st Grade
National Parks and Monuments,
American History, Native Americans*, 
US Government/Our Capitol, Africa, World Cultures,
Animal Life, Environment and Conservation,
Space, Weather

Visual Guide to 2nd Grade
American History, Presidents/Patriotic Symbols,
National Parks and Monuments,
Animal Life, Earth Science, Sports, Weather*



Visual Guide to 3rd Grade
National Parks and Monuments, American History,

 Environment and Conservation, Animal Life, Sea life,
Earth Science, Space, Technology, Health

Free Printable Topics Guide
Use this guide to find topics in the
Visual Guidebooks to supplement
your homeschool lessons

Opinions are all my own.   I was not paid to promote these products but this post does contain affiliate links through which I could earn commission. 

Making Mud Bricks

 

The bricks shown here were made with a mix of 

garden sand/soil mixed in, and came out kind of

crumbly.  "Texas clay" straight out of my back yard 

worked much better - it dried solid like rock.

Back in 2010 our church did an Egypt themed VBS that included making mud bricks, and I can tell you, it was a blast.  It's cheap, fun and really does give kids a glimpse into a common part of life in ancient Egypt (and lots of  other places in the ancient world where people made their homes out of mud brick, such as Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization, and ancient Nubia).

For these instructions I consulted the instructions on the Biblical Archaeology website and several other websites (see sources at the bottom of the page) and added some suggestions we learned while doing this project with groups of kids age 4-11.  


MAKING THE BRICK MOLD

There are two main ways to make your brick mold...single-brick molds or multi-molds.   Both use the same basic materials.

MATERIALS:

Nails
1x4 or 2x4 (to be cut into smaller lengths)

SINGLE-BRICK MOLDS

The brick molds shown below were made by cutting 1x4 or 2x4 boards into smaller sections and nailing together in the pattern you can see below.  Ours were a little narrow (making 2" wide bricks...3" wide are better).     For 3" wide bricks cut wood in the following dimensions

FOR 1x4
5" end pieces
6" side pieces

FOR 2x4
7" end pieces
6" side piece 

You can of course go a little longer or shorter if you want, for different sized bricks.

Then you nail the ends together.  Of course, some early civilizations didn't have "nails" so you might be cheating a bit.  Off Grid Web has an article showing how these molds were made before nails were used, which might be fun to show your kids, though would be much more challenging to replicate.

MULTI-BRICK MOLDS

You can also make a long mold for several bricks by using a longer piece of wood and putting slats between it, as shown here.   I prefer the smaller one when working with multiple children though because it allows them to more easily  remove the brick themselves, in stead of all being crowded around one larger mold. 

RESERVE A PIECE FOR PACKING MUD

Whichever type of mold you use, it's helpful to reserve a short 2x4 to use to pack the mud and help push the bricks out of the mold if they stick. 

MAKING BRICKS

MATERIALS:
Brick Mold  (see above)
Bucket
Dirt (see note below)
Water
Hay or sand (optional)
Shovel, board, or other tool, to mix mud
Short 2x4 (optional, see above)
Plastic Butter knife for each child (optional, for smoothing top)
Cookie sheet or board (optional)
Spatula or other flat tool (for help removing bricks from drying surface)

For Mess Management:
Towels
Tarp or plastic sheet (such as a disposable plastic tablecloth or cut up trash bags)
An extra bucket of water to wash in
Trash bags to protect clothing


GETTING THE RIGHT DIRT
The best dirt to use is a clay like dirt (not too sandy, not too "woody").   If you live in central Texas, what is in your backyard is perfect (if you haven't amended it much).   In other places your backyard soil might be less perfect, but what is in your backyard may still be better than what you can buy in a garden center ("clay" dirt is a nightmare for growing most plants in, so this type of dirt isn't usually sold).


MAKE YOUR BRICKS

1.  Pick your time and prepare your location. (It's best to do this craft outdoors if possible, on a warm sunny day.   Bricks can take several days to fully dry, so do not try this when rain is expected.)  

If you have an outdoor location, hard ground or cement is preferable.   If the only outdoor location has grass, you will need boards, cookie sheets, or other flat hard surfaces to put your bricks on.  If picnic tables are available they work well...but remember to cover them with a plastic tarp or disposable tablecloth. 

If you are doing this in an indoor space you will want to lay out a tarp to contain the mess, and cover any table you use (a cut up trash bag can work if doing this with just your own children).   You will still need to take the bricks outside to dry.   To make it easier to move them outside I suggest getting a board to make your bricks on, or cookie sheets (using these can also allow you to do this craft outside on grass).

If doing this in a group you will also want to set up a washing station for cleaning muddy hands and have a towel set aside for wiping feet as children leave the brick making area, so they don't track mud outside that space.  You will also probably want to have kids wear a trash bag with holes cut in it for the arms and head (in our camp we used pillowcases for kids to wear, which doubled as a costume once we added a colored sash). 

Child playing with the muddy water we used to mix our bricks.
This was not the "mud" but the water we scooped into the dirt,
which is why you'll want something separate to wash with.

2. Mix soil and water in a large bucket or other container to create a thick mud (it should not be too watery).  Kids really like taking part in this, usually.

3.  (OPTIONAL) SEVERAL DAY STEP  
For a more authentic experience, and sturdier bricks, add straw ( around a half pound of straw for every cubic foot of mud mixture), and then KNEAD DAILY FOR FOUR DAYS, then leave the mixture alone for a few days before using (kneading the mixture one more time on the day you use it).   This allows the straw to ferment which creates a chemical reaction in the mud that makes them three times stronger than regular clay.   But, understandably, you might want to skip this, as we did, as it's time consuming (and the fermentation may possibly create a smell).   Still, its good to tell kids that this was part of the original process, and what it was for.   Just adding the straw without the extra days on kneading doesn't seem to add much strength to the bricks, and actually seemed to make them a little more fragile.  

4.   Whatever surface you've prepared to make your bricks on (unless it's already covered by a plastic sheet), distribute hay or sand on it to make it easier to get the bricks off it later (WARNING:  sand can damage cookie sheets).

5.   Pour the mud into the molds and pack them down with your hands or a short 2x4 piece.  Scrape off any excess mud with a piece of wood or other flat tool such as a plastic knife.  

6.  (Optional) Let molds sit to solidify for 20 minutes.   This was suggested in the original authentic method, but we were able to remove the mud from the molds right away without much problem. 

7.   Remove the brick from the mold.   You may need to gently push them out with a short 2x4 piece or other tool.  

8.   If you are indoors, carefully move your cookie sheets or board with bricks outside to dry.   If you are outside, leave your bricks alone.   Bricks may dry in a day but can take several days.   They are usually sturdy enough to transfer onto a paper plate after several hours of drying though. 

MORE READING ABOUT ANCIENT BRICK MAKING
These were my sources for this article, and are fun extra reads.

How to Make a Mudbrick

Biblical Archaeology, written by anonymous Biblical Archaeology Society Staff,    August 15, 2020 

Primitive Technology: Making Mud Bricks
Off Grid Web, Written by Patrick McCarthy on September 27, 2017  

Why bricks with straw in Egypt at the time of the Exodus?

www.BibleIsTrue.com (Lion Tracks Ministries), unknown Author, unknown published date, accessed 3/8/2021

Ultimate Guide to MudBricks

The Survival Journal, Publish Date Unknown, Last Updated August 30, 2020, Written by Editorial Staff, accessed 3/8/2021

Mudbricks
www.mummies2pyramids.info, unknown Author, unknown published date, accessed 3/8/2021.

Senegal Architects Ditch Concrete and Revive Old Techniques
I didn't use this for the article, but thought it was interesting how they are returning to mud bricks (sort of). 

Most of the photos were not taken by me, 

but by other wonderful photographers at Dayspring Baptist Church. 

---

Shared on Dear Homeschooler Bookshelf

Caterpillar Cupcake Cake

This caterpillar cupcake cake is one of the easiest cakes to make, ever...but totally cute and charming.   Really,  I hardly need to explain it.   You just frost cupcakes in light green, then draw legs and antenna on the plate below them, and draw eyes and a smiling mouth with writing icing.  Even if you totally botch the eyes (as I did...I guess that writing icing was sort of drippy), it can come out cute.   And if it doesn't, its easy to swop in another cupcake for the face and try again.  
It's a "no talent required" cake and I like that.   

While this doesn't feed many, you can do a few of these cakes if you have a larger crowd, or make other bug cupcakes, like the ladybug, or these candy bug cupcakes we did for another party, to fill in.

The ladybug was a touch harder.   I think I let my son do the dots...not sure.   But even done very imperfectly was cute and pretty easy. 

Quick Typing Tip

When your child typing a copy of something, here is a simple way to prop up the paper to make it easier for your child to see.  

When typing the first half of the paper, fold the paper in half with the text facing forward, and slip the bottom half of the paper under the keyboard as shown in the picture above. 

When typing the second half re-fold the paper in the opposite direction, then prop it up behind the keyboard like a tent, as shown in the picture above.